The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 10 (of 10)Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 10 (of 10)
Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Animals; Mammals
FIG. 68.--Bones of leg and foot of Phalanger. _ast_, Astragalus; _calc_,
calcaneum; _cub_, cuboid; _ect.cun_, ecto-cuneiform; _ent.cun_,
ento-cuneiform; _fb_, fibula; _mes.cun_, meso-cuneiform; _nav_, navicular;
_tib_, tibia; _I-V_, first to fifth toes. (After Owen.)
The second sub-family, PHASCOLARCTINAE (with the Koala only), is thus
characterised:--Tail rudimentary; cheek-pouches present; superior incisors
three, but only one premolar above and below; {140} caecum extraordinarily
long; stomach with a cardiac gland; liver complicated by additional
furrows, without a free caudate lobe; no azygos lobe to lungs; vaginal
culs-de-sac free.
The third sub-family, PHASCOLOMYINAE, contrasts with the others as
follows:--Tail rudimentary; cheek-pouches present, but rudimentary; one
incisor on each side above, but no additional premolars; all the teeth
rootless; caecum not peculiar in shape; stomach with a cardiac gland; liver
complicated by secondary furrows, without a free caudate lobe; lung with an
azygos lobe; vaginal culs-de-sac free.
The last sub-family, TARSIPEDINAE, is thus defined:--Tail long; tongue
extensile; only one premolar; molars reduced; caecum absent.
[Illustration]
FIG. 69.--Vulpine Phalanger. _Trichosurus vulpecula._ x 1/6.
SUB-FAM. 1. PHALANGERINAE.--The genus _Phalanger_ embraces five species,
sometimes called by the generic name of _Cuscus_. They are largish animals
with short ears; only the end of the tail is naked. Of these animals only
one species is found in Australia itself, the rest inhabiting the islands
lying to the north. The Spotted Cuscus, _Ph. maculatus_, is in spite of its
vegetarian diet, and perhaps on account of its spots, spoken of as the
"Tiger Cat." Mr. Aflalo remarks of it that though provided with a
prehensile tail, it is little better as a climber than the tailless Koala.
_Trichosurus_, including the "True Phalangers," includes largish species,
which can be distinguished from the last genus by a chest-gland similar to
that which occurs in _Myrmecobius_ and some other Marsupials of the present
group. There are but two species, which are purely Australian. The
"Brush-tailed Opossum," _T. vulpecula_ (perhaps better known as
_Phalangista_ {141} _vulpina_), like its American pseudo-namesake (a true
Opossum, genus _Didelphys_), "plays 'possum" on occasions. The dental
formula is I 3/2 C 1/0 Pm 2/3 M 4/4. The ears are shortish.
The Ring-tailed Phalangers, _Pseudochirus_, are more widely distributed
than the last two genera; they range from Tasmania in the south to New
Guinea in the north. They are not, however, ring-tailed, though the tip of
the tail is generally white. As in the last genera, which have prehensile
tails, the end of this appendage is naked. The mammae are four. The tooth
formula is I 3/2 C 1/0 Pm 3/3 M 4/4. There are some ten species of the
genus.
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